Post Scripts: One of the Gutenberg Bibles

Some weeks back, thanks to our daughter, Kathy Ann, a member of the University of Texas faculty, Kathy and I visited the Humanities Research Center on campus in Austin. I hadn’t a clue of what that title meant, or what we might see inside that most impressive building. I was glad to see that part of the campus since there were some interesting monuments and memorials nearby which I photographed for my developing collection of statuary.

Imagine my surprise when Kathy and I were able to view, within inches, an original copy of the Gutenberg Bible, printed by Johann Gutenberg who lived from 1399 to 1468. He was the inventor of the mechanical printing process that changed the course of western civilization. By making knowledge more accessible, Gutenberg’s process gave great impetus to the spread of literacy around the world.

Legal documents, along with other written evidence, indicate that the Gutenberg bible was composed about the year1450 and completed in 1455. About 180 copies were printed: 150 copies on paper and 30 copies on parchment. These were acquired by royal and ecclesiastical libraries throughout Europe where local artisans were employed to "illuminate" the initials opening each book, and to decorate the headings and lesser initials (usually in blue or red) and then add a suitable binding.

Such features are thus unique in each of the surviving 48 copies. The earliest owner of the copy we saw at UT may have been a monastic community. Marginal notes suggest that certain sections were to be read in the refectory while others were reserved for church services. This Texas copy was purchased in 1978 from a New York foundation.

It can be traced back to 1822 when James Perry of England sold it to the Duke of Sussex, the brother of King George 1V. It was then owned by Bishop Robert Daly, the Earl of Crawford and the Earl of Carysfort who sold it at auction in 1923.

The Bible we saw, encased in bullet-proof glass, protective lighting and attached to an alarm system, is one of only five complete copies in the United States. The other four are at Pierpont Morgan library in New York City, the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. and Yale University in New Haven, Conn.

The bible we viewed, 1,282 pages, is bound in two volumes, in calfskin over wooden boards, and dates from the year 1600. It is called the 42-line bible because its Latin text is arranged in two columns of 42 lines each. I must add that the only reason we managed to see this historic Bible is because it is part of the Centennial celebration of The University of Texas at Austin.

As part of the Centennial celebration there were many special exhibits to see but none were more exciting to me than seeing this aged and decorative bible –even though all we could see were the two pages. I guess I still have some printers’ ink in my veins – and I’m proud of it.